Indie Pick of the Week: Scarygirl

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How can this be free?!

By Daemon Hatfield

If Tim Burton and Danny Elfman collaborated on a videogame, the result might be very much like Scarygirl. This is a beautiful, twisted Flash game conceived by Australian artist Nathan Jurevicius. Controlling the titular loner, players must navigate Scarygirl through 2D platforming challenges in a dark fairytale world. The unsettling nursery rhyme soundtrack perfectly complements the distorted visuals. Production values are through the roof on this one and after spending a few moments with the game you may feel guilty for not paying for it.

Scarygirl is plagued by a recurring nightmare in which she is haunted by a mysterious man. She sets out to discover his identity and must seek the advice of a couple good friends. In between her and her goal are plenty enemies and tricky jumps. Scarygirl is manipulated with your keyboard. The arrow keys move her left and right and cause her to duck. "D" will jump, "S" is a spin attack, and "A" is used to interact with characters and objects.

Are you sure this is free?

When you encounter a friendly creature your conversation will unfold in animated drawings. It can be difficult to ascertain exactly what is being said, but the game is pretty linear and will shuffle you along to your next checkpoint.

While Scarygirl is a sight to behold it does have a pretty major flaw. Like old school platformers there are plenty cheap deaths if you don't time a jump perfectly. Missing a jump will cause you to restart a level -- which is particularly annoying in level 3 when you have to explore a vast cavern and collect five bicycle parts. Fall into a pit and you have to start the collect-a-thon all over again. There are rare checkpoints scattered around, though, and your game will be saved in between levels.

Scarygirl provides retro challenges with modern visuals. It's pretty exciting that this level of quality can now be enjoyed for free in a Flash game. Complaints about cheap deaths aside, it's hard to fault a free product -- especially when it has been so lovingly crafted. Scarygirl sets a new standard for freeware. To start your adventure, head on over to the official Scarygirl website.